Competition for Bose ?
The creators of The Core compact wireless bluetooth speaker are 15 days away from the end of their campaign and have already surpassed their $48,000 goal at Indiegogo by almost US330,000.
This device is 6 inches wide and deep, 4 inches tall, and can operate either plugged to a wall outlet or on a battery for 12 hours.
Spotify Coming Soon
Spotify is now taking requests for invites from Canadians.
This Swedish advertisement funded music streaming service will be available on most devices and platforms shortly in Canada.
U2 Removal Tool
Just thought you iTunes users would like to know that a removal tool was released for the latest U2 album : Click here to use the tool.
I’m a U2 fan so I will probably keep it.
Goodbye CD Warehouse
My favourite independent music retailer has announced that they will be closing their doors permanently next spring after 25 years of operation.
CD Warehouse had at one time been a major source for compact discs and DVDs in Ottawa with three stores in the Ottawa area and another in Kingston, Ontario. But sales of compact discs have of course dropped significantly since the commercialization of music downloads on the internet and although the retailer has started selling vinyl and renting DVDs/Blurays, the reduction in stores and the closing of the chain was an eventuality.
The chain’s online counterpart, MyMusic.ca, also faltered and failed to gain traction against the major music retailers online. And unfortunately the industry has not provided enough new releases or re-releases to keep customers like me going to the store.
This closure will unfortunately result in the loss of yet another source for vinyl in my city. And now residents of the city will need to either go downtown for their used and new LPs or order these albums online.
Released !
Martha & The Muffins had just re-released the 30th Anniversary version of “Mystery Walk” through Pledgemusic, a crowd sourcing website for musicians.
CRTC Hearings Start Today
The public hearings in regards to television in Canada have started today and will continue for six weeks.
Issues discussed will be basic cable rate maximums, channel packaging and the options to pick and pick individual channels, internet based television broadcasting, and whether off the air television should continue.
Unfortunately I had attempted to “cut the cord” and get my local channels off the air here in Ottawa and failed because of numerous issues caused by the broadcasters themselves, as explained in a previous blog post. But i’m hoping the CTRC will consider continuing off the air television broadcasts and attempt to fix the associated issues.
I’m hoping they will consider moving all digital broadcasts off the VHF band to the UHF band and allow the use of sub-channels, which would allow CTV 1 and CTV 2 to broadcast on one channel, for example. But I get this feeling that the broadcasters are going to try to end off the air television altogether, which would be rather annoying.
Yes, a reduction of basic cable to $20-$30 would be good. But I suspect this will result in some channels being removed from the basic cable line-up, especially now that some of the providers are pushing exclusivity.
What i’d personally like to see is must carry status for music networks that feature Canadian music videos and live performances by indie bands and lesser known acts. And yes, I know these stations have pretty much packed their schedules with “reality programs”. But is an hour or two per day too much to ask for ?
I’m going to keep an eye on this issue for the blog but if you want more details on what’s going on at the CRTC, click here or tune in on CPAC live weekdays at 9AM Eastern.